of Samsung’s next smartphone to a stellar event: the release of Jay-Z’s next
album, Magna Carta...Holy Grail.
During a blazingly fast thirty days of talks that Pendleton negotiated
himself shortly after the botched Galaxy S4 launch, Jay-Z rhymed and
rapped as he talked business, a sight that dazzled Samsung’s side of the
table. Samsung agreed to pay close to $30 million to Roc Nation. The first
million owners of the Galaxy S III, S4, or Note II who registered—using a
downloadable software app by an independent contractor—would get a free
download of Jay-Z’s next album. Jay-Z got an up-front payment that
underwrote the making of the album, a set number of downloads, and a
guarantee of profitability. Samsung got a major endorsement for its brand.
Jay-Z was set to become the face of Samsung in America. But the
purpose of having Jay-Z was not only to sell more Galaxy phones. It was to
turn Galaxys into little music machines.
—
THE CAMERA PEEKED AT Jay-Z at work from behind the sliver of an open
door to his apartment, a shot meant to create a sense of mystery, to invite
the viewer into the rapper’s private place of creation.
“How do you navigate your way through this whole thing, through
success, through failure, through all this, and remain yourself?” asked Jay-
Z, at work on a music recording in this makeshift studio. The Samsung
Galaxy Tab and a Galaxy smartphone rested on a desk as two of the tools of
his craft.
Viewers watching the NBA Finals during halftime on June 16 saw the
rapper in a commercial fashioned as a documentary, with nothing scripted.
The piano riff behind him pulsated.
“We need to write the new rules,” he said.
Sixteen hours later, Jay-Z took to Twitter with a flippant message for
the music establishment:
If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard
doesn’t report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules
#magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII.Jay-Z believed that by selling one million albums to Samsung, he was at